ALDERSHOT Town FA Cup hero Danny Hylton will be desperate for tomorrow’s League Two clash at York City to go ahead – despite being suspended for the match.

Hylton hit his first senior hat-trick as the Shots beat Rotherham 3-1 in the third round of the Cup but then blotted his copybook by getting sent off for violent conduct in the Recreation Ground tie.

The 23-year-old forward will, therefore, serve the second game of his three-match ban against the Minstermen should the fixture beat the freeze and is due to return for next weekend’s eagerly-anticipated fourth round trip to Middlesbrough with the Shots having rearranged their postponed home match against Northampton for Tuesday night.

Should Bootham Crescent be deemed unplayable, however, then Hylton will also be kicking his heels at the Riverside a week tomorrow.

The 6ft tall striker has netted seven times in just three FA Cup outings this term but has been far less potent in League Two for the division’s lowest marksmen, netting just once in 19 appearances.

The Shots’ tally of 25 goals from 26 games is four fewer than any other side in the division and the team have failed to hit the target in 11 League contests this season.

Former City striker Michael Rankine, recently recalled from a loan spell at Grimsby, has helped contribute significantly to that shot-shy return.

Rankine has not managed a goal for 23 matches since scoring on the opening day of the season in a Capital One Cup tie at Wolves.

In fact, including his one-month spell at Grimsby where he managed just over half-an-hour of football in three substitute outings, the 28-year-old target man has now failed to score a League goal in 29 matches – a barren run stretching back 15 months to October 2011.

Since leaving the Minstermen in the summer of that year, Rankine has netted just twice in 43 League games and is likely to only make the bench on his return to Bootham Crescent.

Nine-goal top scorer Craig Reid is expected to lead the line, alongside on-loan frontman Dani Lopez, who has netted five times in ten games since his arrival from Stevenage.

A raft of loan signings have helped Dean Holdworth’s side improve since their last meeting with the Minstermen when a 2-0 home loss was the second in a run of seven straight defeats.

Along with Lopez, Michael Hector, Kieron Cadogan and Danny Rose have all been signed on a temporary basis from Reading, Crystal Palace and Fleetwood respectively.

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Namibian international and former Swindon captain Oliver Risser and ex-Macclesfield winger Anthony McNamee, meanwhile, have been recruited during this month’s transfer window, while centre-back Guy Branston has left for Plymouth.

The new arrivals have helped the Shots climb two places and two positions outside the relegation zone, which they have inhabited this term.

Holdsworth’s team have also won three games on the trot for the first time since last March – a 1-0 victory at Barnet followed by back-to-back home triumphs against Rotherham (3-1) and Accrington (2-0).

As well as beating Barnet on the road, the Shots have defeated promotion contenders Fleetwood, Burton and Southend during a sequence of one defeat in their last eight away fixtures too. Craig Stanley (broken leg) and Olly Lancashire (groin) will be the Hampshire outfit’s only injury absentees for tomorrow afternoon’s freeze-threatened clash.

Aldershot (probable): Young, Herd, Brown, Bradley, Tonkin, Cadogan, Hector, Rose, Vincenti, Reid, Lopez.


Match facts

Aldershot Town made four Conference visits winning 2-0 in 2004/5, but losing on their three subsequent trips.

In 2005/6, City won 3-2 with Mark Convery, Clayton Donaldson and Andy Bishop on the scoresheet.

The following season Convery netted the only goal of the game and, on January 26, 2008, Richard Brodie and Martyn Woolford scored in a 2-0 City success. The line-up that day was: Evans, Craddock, McGurk, Parslow, Rusk, Lloyd, Elliott, Panther, Wroe, Brodie (Farrell), Woolford.

The original Aldershot club made 22 Football League visits to Bootham Crescent between 1959 and 1990, winning five times and drawing six.

City’s biggest wins in the series were 4-0 in 1981/2 and 1982/3.

The last Football League meeting here was in December 1990 when Ian Helliwell scored both goals in a 2-0 win.

Players to have appeared for both clubs include Neil Warnock, Ian McDonald, Malcolm Crosby, Dale Banton, Ray Warburton and currently Michael Rankine and Alex Rodman.

It happened on January 19

1974: A club record run of 21 League games without defeat ended when Charlton Athletic won 1-0 at Bootham Crescent in front of 4,699. City were third in the Third Division (League One).

1991: A 5-4 defeat at Maidstone United in Division Four. On the scoresheet were Nigel Pepper, Ian Blackstone, Ian Helliwell and Tony Barratt.

2008: Martyn Woolford scored both goals in 2-2 draw at Altrincham. It was the eighth league game without defeat and City were mid-table in the Blue Square Premier.

Compiled by David Batters